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Northern Brown Argus - Favourite Photo of 2018
Posted: Sun Dec 23, 2018 8:05 pm
by Wurzel
Northern Brown Argus - Favourite Photo of 2018
Week 11
Sorry for the late posting I was at the Panto; "Oh no I wasn't, Oh yes I was!"
![Very Happy :D](./images/smilies/icon_biggrin.gif)
There's only two days now until the obese male pensioner in the red suit commits reverse burglary so to one and all; Have a Happy Christmas!
Please could I ask that everyone waits until a topic has been opened by me for a particular species before posting photos as then it will be easier to keep track of things? Of course our overseas members are very welcome to fill in the obvious gaps relating to rare UK migrants. As in previous years details of locations, dates, times and circumstances would be welcome as would any accompanying stories and anecdotes or other observations of behaviour and interesting other points.
Have a goodun
Wurzel
Re: Northern Brown Argus - Favourite Photo of 2018
Posted: Mon Dec 24, 2018 10:33 am
by Goldie M
I saw my NBA in the Lake District at Latter Barrow on the 7th June, it was a very hot day, we'd given up hope because of the heat and were on our way back to the car when out of the corner of my eye I spotted it , I was so pleased even though it didn't open it's wings
![Very Happy :D](./images/smilies/icon_biggrin.gif)
Goldie
![Very Happy :D](./images/smilies/icon_biggrin.gif)
Re: Northern Brown Argus - Favourite Photo of 2018
Posted: Mon Dec 24, 2018 8:03 pm
by David M
Goldie M wrote:I saw my NBA in the Lake District at Latter Barrow on the 7th June, it was a very hot day, we'd given up hope because of the heat and were on our way back to the car when out of the corner of my eye I spotted it , I was so pleased even though it didn't open it's wings
It's amazing how often that happens, Goldie. I think your senses are heightened when you traipse back to the car to leave as you know you only have one chance left!
It may not have opened its wings, but those undersides are beautiful, very much setting it apart from Common Blue and Brown Argus.
Re: Northern Brown Argus - Favourite Photo of 2018
Posted: Mon Dec 24, 2018 9:36 pm
by bugboy
This year I managed to catch up with both our races of NBA.
Salmacis at Arnside knott
and then on what most people would probably think of as a fruitless journey at the end of a long day at the very tail end of their flight season in less than optimum weather I caught up with a couple of
artaxerxes at Burnmouth
Re: Northern Brown Argus - Favourite Photo of 2018
Posted: Wed Dec 26, 2018 8:37 am
by IAC
A quickfire season for Northern Brown Argus up here in South east Scotland during 2018 as most adults emerged in a short window from the first week in June after a slight delay on the coast due to easterlies. This year I saw the species in numbers throughout the entire length of the Berwickshire coast as well as sizeable colonies inland around the Lammermuir Hills and Lauderdale. The surprise colony of 2018 for me was the discovery of Northern Brown Argus on the Eildon Hills at Melrose. The Eildons are mostly acidic and hold no Common Rockrose, though one of its hills, Little Hill, is calcareous and has held Common Rockrose for many years. Because the hills have been so popular with naturalists for many, many years, much is known about the ecology, Flora and Fauna. Northern Brown Argus have just never been recorded in all of history,until this summer. A visit to the site by Bryologist David Long, who was keeping a weather eye open for the species, recorded several adults on the west side of the outcrop in late June. I visited the site for confirmation and found the Butterfly in numbers on a hot day on the 3rd of July. The conundrum was how had they been missed all this time considering the number of Butterflies present. The Little Hill is completely isolated in the landscape from any nearby colonies of Northern Brown Argus, or indeed Common Rockrose. Had the sight recently been colonised at distance? Has this site always been colonised and just been missed? I don't think they could have been here for so long and been missed, and I don't think from what I saw that this is a newly colonised site, as the site is centuries old...so I would say at best, that this site, because of its isolation in the landscape, has been recolonised by nomadic Butterflies from as far away as 10 miles. I have seen this species in the landscape on several occasions in a fresh state up to 5 miles from any known Common Rockrose through the years, and see it very regularly travelling through arable landscapes at a mile from coastal colonies. My theory is that a number of triggers can force this shift, mostly climatic, or habitat pressures. Does the species have a secondary food source to sustain itself away from its core historical sites that contain Common Rockrose? Geranium sp perhaps? How do Northern Brown Argus navigate the landscape to re find these isolated sites in order to recolonise.? Is there an inherited map of the landscape, a road map to old sites handed down to the offspring generation after generation. Sounds a bit far fetched I know, yet something is going on, and I can't quite figure it out.
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Through 12 years of observing Butterflies at a local level I have seen Butterflies turn up in the oddest places, far from known colonies, yet somehow....when later studying maps and reading historical accounts, those wandering species seem to be revisiting habitats that no longer exist along well worn corridors of landscape. There is a pattern...but as I say...I just can't quite see it yet. The discovery of Northern Brown Argus on Little Hill is something we can get our teeth into,and studying how long they can sustain this colony on Little Hill will be very interesting indeed.
All the photos from the coastal colonies around Eyemouth and Burnmouth as some of you will recognise.
![Smile :)](./images/smilies/icon_smile.gif)
Re: Northern Brown Argus - Favourite Photo of 2018
Posted: Sat Dec 29, 2018 12:32 pm
by CallumMac
For the second year running, I managed to catch up with an extremely late straggler of this species at Creag Dhubh, near Newtonmore, whilst en route to Speyside with my field assistant to sample Speckled Woods. This was on the 30th July, late in the day (after a very long drive from York!). With the temperature already quite cool, I didn't have much hope, but frankly just wanted to stretch my legs! After walking uphill for several minutes, we were just about to give up and head for our youth hostel when something very small and brown fluttered past... It was a very obliging individual, posing nicely for us in several different positions for a good 15-minute spell, and meant that we headed onwards to Aviemore with a real spring in our step!
Re: Northern Brown Argus - Favourite Photo of 2018
Posted: Sun Dec 30, 2018 11:13 am
by Pete Eeles
There are a few photos that I've dreamt about getting for my book - and this is one ... a coloured-up ssp. artaxerxes pupa, white spot and all
Cheers,
- Pete
Re: Northern Brown Argus - Favourite Photo of 2018
Posted: Sun Dec 30, 2018 3:38 pm
by bugboy
Pete Eeles wrote:There are a few photos that I've dreamt about getting for my book - and this is one ... a coloured-up ssp. artaxerxes pupa, white spot and all
Northern Brown Argus - pupa - 2018-28.jpg
Cheers,
- Pete
There you go again Pete, mentioning your book again...
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Re: Northern Brown Argus - Favourite Photo of 2018
Posted: Sun Dec 30, 2018 6:33 pm
by David M
IAC wrote:A quickfire season for Northern Brown Argus up here in South east Scotland during 2018...
Another fascinating account of your NBA year, Iain, supported once again by those beautiful
artaxerxes specimens.
![Smile :)](./images/smilies/icon_smile.gif)
Re: Northern Brown Argus - Favourite Photo of 2018
Posted: Tue Jan 01, 2019 5:27 pm
by Neil Freeman
Just one NBA seen by me in 2018, a late
salmacis that I found at Arnside Knott at the end of July.
![Arnside 07.2018 075 resize.JPG (654.07 KiB) Viewed 2859 times NBA salmacis - Arnside Knott 30.07.2018](./files/thumb_10101_32db9b7179e438bbc215057ad4a5a738)
- NBA salmacis - Arnside Knott 30.07.2018
Cheers,
Neil.
Re: Northern Brown Argus - Favourite Photo of 2018
Posted: Wed Jan 09, 2019 1:46 pm
by millerd
I had my first ever encounters with this species in 2018, up at Arnside on the first two days of July. However, this was at the peak of the unusual heatwave and though there were plenty flying, that's all they seemed to be doing, with any stops at all being extremely brief. Here then is my only shot to date of this butterfly!
Even with this oblique angle to the wings, the red-orange markings seem much reduced compared to its southern cousin.
Dave